Dog owners and lovers have a treat in store, as Casares Costa gets ready to welcome its beloved pets festival back for another helping of fun, learning and tail-wagging togetherness.

What’s happening at this year’s celebration

Jardines del Rosario opens up its gardens on Sunday, September 27 from 11am for Guau Fest, or “Woof Fest” if you prefer! Casares Town Hall organises the free family gathering together with Comunicacion Al Dente, weaving it into the wider “Deja Huella” (Leave a Mark) awareness campaign that encourages owners to clean up after their dogs and treat animals with care and respect.

Visitors can browse stalls selling pet products and services, listen to talks on canine training and behaviour, and let children loose on workshops designed just for them. The debut edition featured face painting, balloon modelling and a costumed character visit for younger guests, giving a flavour of what families might find this time round.

Treats, workshops and a canine cookery class

New additions this year include a dog illustration workshop and a canine bakery session, where owners can learn to whip up homemade snacks for their pets. Free gifts under the “Casares Dog Lovers” banner will also be handed out, with food and drink stalls on hand to keep hungry humans fuelled.

A Canine Unit will demonstrate the impressive work carried out by assistance and detection dogs, giving the public a rare glimpse of these highly trained animals in action. La Linea’s Local Police are bringing their own handlers and dogs to the festival, building on the involvement seen at previous gatherings.

Getting involved

Businesses, associations and animal-related entities keen to take part can reach organisers on 650 163 356 or via Instagram at @guau.fest. Entry is completely free, and everyone is invited to bring their pets and join in. For more information visit the Casares Town Hall website and FaceBook pages.

If you have followed the Madeleine McCann case for years, there is one question that has never gone away: what happened to the little girl who disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007? Now, almost two decades later, the man German authorities identify as the main suspect is preparing to put his own version of events into print.

Christian Brückner is reportedly planning a book in which he will defend his innocence and set out his account of what happened. The development comes at a particularly striking moment, after he has also broken years of silence about where he says he was on the night Madeleine disappeared.

Brückner wants to tell his side

Brückner, 49, has begun working on a draft and has approached at least one professional writer to help with the project. According to reports, he wants the book published in both German and English and is looking for a publisher or financial backing. Sources cited by The Mirror claim Brückner is keen to tell his side of the story and believes a book could give him the opportunity to explain his version of events and defend himself against the allegations surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance. The reported plans come after years in which Brückner has largely refused to discuss the case publicly.

He has never been charged with Madeleine’s disappearance and has repeatedly denied having anything to do with what happened to her. Being identified as a suspect by German authorities does not mean he has been convicted of any offence connected to the case. Madeleine was three years old when she disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in Portugal’s Algarve, on May 3, 2007. Her disappearance prompted an international investigation and generated worldwide attention, with searches continuing over the years in Portugal, Spain and Germany.

He says he was close to the apartment

The reported book plans follow a recent interview in which Brückner gave a new account of his whereabouts on the night Madeleine vanished. Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, he claimed he was around 150 yards from the McCann family’s apartment. Brückner said he was on a beach near the resort, where he claims he was selling drugs.

He also said he had travelled from Spain to Portugal carrying marijuana and claimed Portuguese police stopped his van three times that night while officers were searching for Madeleine. Brückner has maintained that he was not involved in her disappearance and reportedly said he had previously kept quiet because he believed authorities were attempting to frame him. His account places him close to the holiday apartment that night, but it remains his own version of events and does not establish what happened to Madeleine.

What happened to Madeleine?

German prosecutors identified Brückner as a suspect in 2020. He has not been charged in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance. The case against him has therefore remained an investigation rather than a criminal conviction. Brückner was released from prison in Germany in September 2025 after serving a sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Portugal, an offence unrelated to the Madeleine investigation. He has also faced other allegations, which he has denied. His reported plans to publish a book could now bring his version of the case into the public eye in considerably greater detail.

There is also a financial motive being reported. Sources say Brückner sees the project as a possible way of making money, as well as an opportunity to present his account directly to readers. Whether the book is actually published remains to be seen. There is currently no confirmed publication date or publisher. For the McCann family, however, the central issue remains unchanged.

Madeleine disappeared almost 20 years ago and has never been found. A book from the man German authorities regard as their main suspect could contain new claims, explanations and his account of the night she vanished. But it would still be one person’s version of events, rather than an established account of what happened to the missing three-year-old. Until there is evidence establishing what happened to Madeleine, the biggest question in one of Britain’s most closely followed missing-person cases remains unanswered.

If I was to ask you where you would expect to see a rat, I’m sure a Spanish hospital bed would probably be one of the last places you would say, particularly when you are recovering from an operation. Yet one patient in Cádiz had a very different kind of visitor during his stay, turning what should have been a routine night in hospital into a rather extraordinary encounter.

It is the latest in a string of unusual incidents involving unwanted creatures at Spanish hospitals, from insects turning up where they really should not be to reptiles making their way into patient areas. So, quite apart from the immediate disgust factor, it raises an uncomfortable question: are Spain’s hospitals doing enough when it comes to pest control and sanitation?

Rat jumps onto patient’s bed

The incident happened during Friday night, September 18, at Hospital Puerta del Mar in Cádiz. According to the patient’s relatives, a large rat somehow made its way into a third-floor hospital room. The animal initially hid behind the chair being used by a family member accompanying the patient. It did not stay there for long.

The rat eventually jumped onto the patient’s bed, where it was filmed by the family before they managed to get the animal out of the room. The patient was recovering from an operation at the time, making the unexpected visitor particularly disturbing for those present. But the incident has taken on a different significance because concerns about rats at the hospital had already been raised weeks earlier.

Staff had already sounded the alarm

UGT says it warned hospital management in August after rodents were reportedly seen in several areas of Puerta del Mar. Those areas included the kitchen, pathology, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy departments, according to the union, which also pointed to areas of the hospital basement. UGT says it identified a possible route through which the rodents could enter and leave the building, involving a drain close to the hospital garden.

Following the warnings, additional pest-control and monitoring measures were activated, with the hospital also coordinating with Cádiz City Council. The union says the checks carried out at the time found a low level of rat activity.The appearance of one inside a patient’s bedroom has therefore prompted UGT to call for the existing measures to be reviewed and for the hospital to establish exactly how the animal managed to reach the ward. There is no evidence from this incident alone that Puerta del Mar has an infestation, and UGT has not claimed that it does.

Not the only recent hospital visitor

The Cádiz rat is also not the only recent case in which an unwanted creature has found its way into a Spanish hospital. In August, two snakes were reportedly found inside the Hospital Alto Guadalquivir in Andújar, Jaén. One was discovered underneath a patient’s bed. The incidents prompted an investigation into how the reptiles had entered the hospital, involving the regional authorities and environmental officials.

Then there was a cockroach in a patients food at the Hospital Clínico de Santiago in Galicia. That incident happened on August 4 and was reported publicly in September. CCOO subsequently demanded explanations and action, while hospital management described the discovery as an isolated and exceptional incident. Additional pest-control measures were carried out afterwards.

Are standards slipping?

Three incidents at three hospitals alone do not establish that sanitation standards across Spain’s healthcare system are slipping, but it is sure enough makes you question them. Each hospital has also reported having pest-control procedures in place, and there is no evidence that these cases represent a nationwide deterioration. But the incidents do raise an awkward question for patients.

Hospitals have strict hygiene requirements precisely because people receiving treatment can be particularly vulnerable to infection and other risks. That makes the appearance of rodents, reptiles or insects inside patient areas, kitchens or food particularly uncomfortable.

In Cádiz, the most obvious question is now how a rat managed to get from wherever it entered the building to a third-floor hospital room, especially after concerns had already been raised. For the patient who was trying to recover from an operation, though, the issue was considerably simpler. He went into hospital expecting treatment and ended up with a visit from a rat and this one wasn’t there to collect his teeth!